Fluid Dampers and harmonic balancers with balls, springs or inertia rings with rubber o-rings cannot be balanced. Centrifugal force will move the Inertia weight (ring or fluid) off "center" no mater how slow the RPM. As the RPM increases so does the centrifugal force applied, so your engine is almost, but never quite, balanced. Centrifugal force will not allow the inertia weight to center no matter what the RPM. The fluid or moving weight is always playing “catch-up” with the actual rotating weight of the engine.

One of the signs to look for when removing a harmonic balancer is metal transferred to the outside diameter of the crank nose or to the internal diameter of the damper. Over time, this can cause wear to the crank nose, a damaged woodruff key or keyway, or even a fatigue crack on the crank nose area. We know of one customer who even cracked the front main cap on a Chev V-8 due to harmonic vibration induced by running a fluid damper on a high RPM engine.

We do not recommend or sell fluid dampers, or other devices with moving weights inside the harmonic damper. Aside from their high cost, fluid dampers and other harmonic balancers with moving weights are no substitute for a properly balanced engine.